Madonna and Child
by Zhong TianHui
Summary: Nothing is what is seems. In Amegakure, even the kindest souls can be deceived into promoting acts of cruelty. (Set a little before Konan and Yahiko first meet) "Konan was seriously considering joining the syndicated beggar group"


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Note: This was largely inspired by the story circulating in the internet (I found it in Facebook) about the a beggar in the metro holding a sleeping child. There were too many different versions, so I couldn't trace the source.

x.X.x

Konan was seriously considering joining the syndicated beggar group. There they were in the house of their leader, having supper, making friends, being protected...staying warm and dry. She clutched her jacket closer, the rain pounding on her back.

She heard splashing footsteps coming closer to her and didn't need to be told twice before she broke into a run. It could be a shinobi or a kidnapper, trying to find healthy organs to sell in the black market. Konan wasn't staying to find out. Casting a last envious glance at the warm house as she was running, Konan promised herself that one day she wouldn't have to worry about shelter, people hurting her or where she's going to get her next meal.

Konan was seriously considering joining that syndicated beggar group.

x.X.x

The next morning, Konan followed a few members of the group as they headed out to their usual spots. She situated herself a good distance from them, observing from afar. These people were very territorial and usually chased away other beggars that stayed in their spot.

Their spot was a busy area near the market place- where the rich and the foreign shinobi pass. It was the best place to earn money, considering both populations had a soft spot for child beggars. Well, not a soft spot but a gnawing guilt. The rich know that they're living a better life and the shinobi know that they've probably made orphans out of several of them.

Several of them, like her.

Yet, in the midst of the children asking for money, there was an woman. _Perhaps a guardian? _Konan leaned in for a better view. No, it was not a woman. Just a child a few years older than herself- 15 years old maybe. _A child holding another child. _

The older girl, Konan assumed was the mother, held the sleeping baby close to her chest. With slow rocking motions, the mother sang to the sleeping child. Konan found it strange that the mother still had to sing when there was a blind boy singing beside the pair as well. Strangers- affluent looking strangers- would drop several coins and even bills on the open bag beside the mother and she would thank them with a very soft and gentle voice.

x.X.x

Madonna and Child

That was the nickname people have given the pair. Konan asked around and everyone testified that the woman was very kind and helpful despite her poverty. Konan could probably ask her about the group and what it would take to finally have a full meal and a warm place to go home to.

_Home._

It didn't take long for Konan to find the girl away from her usual spot. The mother was out buying bread for herself. If only Konan had such luxuries.

"Um...excuse me," Konan began. But when the mother turned towards her, she forgot all that she was about to say. _What if I say something stupid? What if I miss this chance of comfort, and protection? What if I don't live long enough to have another chance?_ "I-I- I think you have a beautiful baby...may I hold him?"

The girl smiled but said "You might wake him up."

Konan gave a sheepish smile and apologized, suddenly losing heart. She probably shouldn't disturb this woman anyway. But before she could walk away, the woman said "I saw you watching us a few days ago. Would you like to come with me? The master is always looking for children in need of help."

"Really?" Konan turned around quickly to meet the woman's smile. "Yes, really. You can sit with me today. Would you like that?"

x.X.x

Back in the woman's usual spot, Konan could not take her eyes off the baby. He looked so peaceful despite his dirty and worn out clothes, his head hung limp on his mother's arms. The boy reminded her of her little brother- the one that was mercilessly killed by enemy shinobi in her mother's arms. The girl saw Konan staring and told her "If you join us, I don't think they'll allow you to have a baby. I'm sorry."

Konan scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion. "Maybe a little brother would be more appropriate for someone your age," the girl explained. Konan was still confused. _So she wasn't the mother?_

Her eyes fell on the children asking for money in the street in front of them. An older girl led two smaller boys by the hand as they approached strangers in the street. _Were they not siblings?_

A loud crying erupted from the street in front of them. One of the children begging for money frightened an infant resting in his mother's arms. The child, wrapped in beautiful linen cloth, was inconsolable. No amount of rocking or cooing could settle the child- not with the overwhelming sights, smells and sounds of this part of town.

"This little one is very behaved," whispered the 'mother' "Unlike the noisy little boy over there."

x.X.x

"I'll put in a good word for you, little one," the older girl said before disappearing into her master's house. _Just stay put alright._ The order rang in her head. Konan never liked staying put- not with the number of people who are interested in taking advantage of a little girl in the middle of the night.

But she waited. She did not move when a group of rowdy boys passed her by. She did not move when a man came up to her and handed her a flyer. "Kid, have you seen this little boy?" The man was well-dressed, his kimono soaking up the dirt and grime of the road. _What was a noble man doing in this part of town?_

Konan peered at the picture of a smiling baby boy, wrapped in fine silk as he lay on his crib. "I haven't seen him." But the man took her hand and placed the flyer there. "Kid, please. If you find him or see anyone that looks like him, go to this address," he said pointing at a map attached to the picture. "He was taken from my sister. If you find him, tell us." With those last words, the man left to hand another copy of the picture to another person.

_Another rich baby_. Konan's mind wandered to the crying child from earlier that day. It was definitely not the same child. She tried to push the image away from her mind but she could still hear the child's loud and incessant cries. She could still hear the soft whispers and lullabies of the mother as she tried to calm down her crying child.

Except it wasn't the voice of the mother on the street, but the voice of her own. Konan remembered the soft lullabies her mother would sing to her little brother- always switching from peaceful sleep to incessant cries for milk, or food, or a cool breeze.

"_This little one is very behaved."_

_Something was wrong._ Konan felt her feet move from underneath her. She started walking away from the house, disobeying the older girl's strict orders. _Something was terribly wrong._ She remembered taking care of her little brother and how often the boy slept. He slept for a long time, almost the whole day, but always woke up in between. She remembered watching the Madonna and Child the whole day. _Not once did the baby cry. He did not even stir._

Konan stopped when she found herself near a house, light emanating from its low windows. A cat passed by her, quickly jumping into a nearby garbage can in search of food. She leaned against the wall of the house and looked once more at the picture of the rich baby covered in silk.

The more she looked at the picture, the more familiar the baby seemed to her. _She's seen the little boy. But where?_

Suddenly, she heard a dull thud towards where the stray cat had gone. Konan turned her head, only to be met by the most horrible and heart breaking sight she's ever seen.

It was the child.

It was the child in the picture she held. It was the child in the 'mother's' arms. It was a child lying dead on the ground beside a garbage can- like a discarded doll to be picked up by the stray animals in the area.

But before the gravity of the situation hit her, someone else did. She turned to see a head of orange hair before he disappeared into the shadows beside the garbage can. "Shhh..." she heard the person say.

In a few seconds, a group of angry merchants came towards her asking if she's seen a young boy with orange hair and dark blue clothes. Konan pointed towards the house of the beggar group. "I think he went there." She expected them to run towards the house and demand the boy to be released, instead they turned away muttering "What's the use?" and "Can't do anything about it now."

Konan watched as the group of men went away. Then, she felt a firm hand on her shoulder. "Thanks for not ratting me out."

She looked disapprovingly at the loaf of bread in his hands. "You stole that, didn't you?"

"I was hungry," the boy defended himself "I needed to eat something."

Konan turned to look at the dead baby lying on the ground. _She was hungry too. They were probably just hungry. But what price would someone pay for a decent meal?_

"Oh, they drugged another one to death?"

She turned towards him, horror and confusion written on her face. _Drugged a baby?_ The boy placed the loaf inside his bag and with a spare cloth, he picked up the baby. "So the story goes. Heroin or alcohol to keep the babies from crying too much."

"The child needs to be buried properly. Even if we're the only ones grieving for it." After a pause, the boy added "Still think I'm a bad person?"

Konan couldn't believe she actually considered joining the group. She couldn't believe actually entertained the idea of giving someone a reason to snatch babies from their mother's arms or to drug them until their dead.

"What's your name?" she asked the orange haired boy.

"Yahiko."

"My name is Konan."

The boy smiled brightly, like a shimmering ray of light in the bleak darkness of Amegakure. "Would you like to head home with me, Konan? I could use some help like a while ago."

She couldn't help but smile back. Konan nodded and followed him.

Konan decided then that it was better to follow this person, a child of the same age as her, instead of waiting in the dark night for the syndicate group to answer her call. In theft, at least people knew that what she was doing was wrong. It was and they had a legitimate reason to hate her. In theft, at least she was not taking lives and killing babies- knowingly and unknowingly- and she could never trick people into supporting her trade. In theft, she and Yahiko would have to risk their own lives. In theft, she had a steady supply of food, a dry shelter and warm firewood.

In Yahiko, she's finally found something she can call 'home'.


End file.
